The Brink of Insanity
by Uruwashii Inochi
Summary: When some a few Preventer agents turn up dead after trying to hunt down a rogue assassin, they are left with limited options. Options left only to one man. He will walk the fine line between insanity, and reality, to locate his target.......


I do not own anything Gundam Wing nor am I claiming any of them.

_**WARNING SOME PROFANITY! **_

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Ch. 1 Call of Duty

He stared down the scope of his .50 caliber, long ranger sniper rifle. His target, three thousand yards away, roughly, one and three quarter miles. Finally, after a year of tracking, hunting, being hunted, the assassin would be eliminated. Now, it had become kill or be killed, sniper versus sniper. There would be only one winner. His breath stopped, time itself seemed to have stopped with him, there was nothing. His sights locked on the target, finger, pulling the trigger, the semi-silent passing as the bullet left the barrel….

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It seemed, no matter where he went, he still drew attention. At least, standing in the empty elevator with the lame, yet appropriately named 'elevator music', offered some reprieve. He shoved his hands into his pockets, and leaned against the wall behind him, staring at the ceiling.

_Why? _He wondered. _Why now, after all this time?_

The excitement and dread that accompanied him before battle set in. They were sending him on a special ops mission, it was the only reason he could think of that he would be called again. If that was the case, it had better be a dam good reason.

The irritating ding of the elevator reaching its destined floor pulled him from his thoughts. From the love struck stares of the office woman at his entrance, in hind sight, the black wife beater, loose fit jeans and black tennis shoes was probably a poor choice of clothing for the occasion. It didn't help that the black shirt enhanced his blond hair and "god like" looks, or so he had been told. He got the impression they were undressing him secretly.

With his usually air of dignity and superiority, he strolled casually through the preventer agents, parting them like the red sea in their awe. Very rarely had he graced them with his presence, something serious was obviously going on, everyone knew it.

He continued toward his destination, completely ignoring the smitten receptionist, and into Lady Une's office, unannounced. Flopping down in the chair one leg stretched out at an angle, he studied Lady Une while she finished her current task, the silence stretching out between them.

"It's good to see you again Zechs." She stated, emotionless as she shifted the papers out of her way.

"I wish I could say the same, Une." He replied, pulling his hair out from behind him to drape over the back of the chair.

"I wish we could meet under different circumstances…

"But I'm the only qualified person." He finished for her

Here heavy sigh told him volumes. His being called in must be extreme, and that worried hm. Upon closer inspection, he noted the bags under her eyes, stress lines marring her features. She was haggard, run-down and in desperate need of sleep.

"Why am I being activated Une?" Zechs asked bluntly, forcing aside any other formalities.

Equally blunt she responded, "We have a rogue agent."

"Rouge agent?"

"Rouge agent, sniper" she ran her hand over her face, trying to wipe away the fatigue. It was a futile attempt.

"And…." He had a sickening feeling about this mission.

"He's been killing all the major players being ending the Eve war."

"My sister is one of those people." Not that he really cared.

"We know. He's taken out ten members of the United Earth's Sphere Alliance."

"In how many months?"

"Two."

Her statement hung between them like the icy grip of death to a dying man.

'_Christ'_, he thought running an irritated hand through his bangs.

"And you're just NOW contacting me!" he exclaimed, barely containing his voice to a moderate level. "How many?"

"How many what?" Lady Une could feel a severe headache coming on with this conversation.

"How many agents did you go through before me?" he was angry now.

"Three."

"Ten delegates and three agents!?" this was unacceptable.

"With the first two deaths, they were amateurishly done, so we sent out an agent fully capable of handling the situation, or so we had thought."

"And?"

She really hated to disclose the information, but if Milliardo Peacecraft wanted to know, you told!

"His partner found him dead in his apartment, a .50 bullet in the wall, or what was left of it." The memory of the agent's disintegrated skull still haunted her.

"What about the agent after him? Do I really want to know?" It was starting to sound like this sniper was highly trained and not afraid of capture.

"He was delivered the front doorman of the Preventer building, in a body bag." She stopped then, needing a moment to composer her emotions, though outwardly she showed no signs of turmoil. When Zechs didn't prompt her, she explained the last agent that was sent out. "We sent WuFei after that. It was a logical decision since he is familiar with the L5 colony."

"Where is he now?" he had a feeling he already knew the answer, but asked it anyway.

"We are sure, he never returned. It is presumed that he is probably dead considering this guy is obvious no amateur and far superior than we gave him credit for."

Zechs thought on that for a moment. It was possible that WuFei had gone under cover to locate this psycho, but the odds were in the favor of death. At the same time, WuFei was just as capable as he was in this particular area, he would have to delve into this some more.

"What have you collected on this agent so far?"

Pulling the key from her wrist, Une unlocked a draw in her desk and pulled out a thick file, handed it to him, and relocked the draw.

"On the snipe himself, not much, just that he was a former preventer agent. The rest of the information is on the deceased. Their daily habits, close friends and family, anything we could think of that might lead us to this guy's identity. That file also contains the preventer and investigating officer reports of the crime scenes."

"Is it possible the information could have been tampered with?" if the assassin was a former preventer agent, it was a possibility that he was still working within the company, or had contacts helping him from inside.

"From what he can tell, there has been no tampering, but there is not absolute way to determine if it has or hasn't. You'll have to decide for yourself what is and isn't real. I also made sure to include WuFei's last transmission to us, hopefully that will lead to something valuable in your mission." Une rubbed her temples then. She hated placing this burden on Zechs, but there was no one else capable of handling this situation with as much detail and finesse as the former Lightening Count. He would ensure it was kept under wraps and do everything to locate this guy without sacrificing innocent lives, if he could help it.

"What is my security access?" This was going to require extensive research and he would need free access to as much information as possible to give him a flying chance in hell to find this guy.

"I have personally seen to it that you have full access to classified and unclassified information. I presume you will not abuse this privilege."

He nodded his consent and stood, not liking the situation at all, but would see it through to the end, regardless of what he had to do, or how long it took. Zechs had his hand on the door when Une stopped him.

"Zechs, this is no idle assassin and is quite possibly risking the peace we have all fought so hard to achieve."

He gave no response, closed the door and left the Preventer Agency, walking as a man condemned. Wasn't that what this mission was though? Condemning him to a certain death should he be found first?

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Ok, new story! I know, NOT my normal story plot lmao, but I figured you guys might like a change from the normal! Let me know what you think! I will probably add more to this chapter in another day or two so keep an eye out for and update and a second chapter! R&R please!


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